steadicam

You're following Tom Cruise through a hotel room, or better yet, Brad Pitt through a shoddy, packed bar. You are carrying a very large video camera, attached to a huge counterbalanced device (which happens to be attached to you), and you have to carefully move in a choreographed path around the actor as he delivers his lines. You have one, two, maybe three takes to nail the shot. Feeling the pressure yet? These are just the topical difficulties of the steadicam shot, a gem of the Hollywood industry that produces some of the most spectacular scenes in some of your favorite movies.